$4.9m plan to turn Warrnambool CBD site into a medical hub

The project is set to create a "one stop shop" in a new-look medical hub. The centre would bring health services from the co-op's two sites under the one roof.

An addition to the building will make it a two-storey complex fronting Kepler Street, and create a four-storey rear entrance and car park.

The design also features a rooftop garden which will include small trees and shrubs made up entirely of indigenous varieties.

The plans have been submitted to Warrnambool City Council's planning department which will decide on the application before May 30.

The project is one of a number of major building projects about to start in Warrnambool including a new luxury apartment complex on the nearby vacant site of the former Criterion Hotel.

Fairy Street is also about to be transformed with a $70 million apartment complex with retail and office space approved for the former Callaghans Motors site.

The revamped Gunditjmara Aboriginal Cooperative building will bring multiple services together in the Kepler Street site from its Banyan Street facility.

"The separation of these services and programs across the two sites is inefficient," the planning application says.

The project will bring primary healthcare, elder and home care, community, and child youth and family services into the one central location.

"This way their clients will benefit from a 'one stop shop' as well as an efficiency of service provision," it says.

Acting chief executive officer Danny Pearson said they hoped to start work as soon as the plans were approved, and a digital walk-through would be uploaded to their website.

"A lot of the materials inside are very much focused on trying to bring our connection to country inside of the building," he said.

Mr Pearson said once the new clinic was completed, the Banyan Street site would be utilised for something else.

"Like a lot of organisations, we're growing and expanding," he said.

The new building would also make use of underutilised space on the basement level at the Kepler Street site and the rest of the space would be used for offices.

The green roof has been designed as a climate-proof construction which will save on energy costs while encouraging biodiversity in a urban setting.

"The green roof will be an important space for staff to have their lunch, for community members to have a cup of tea after they have attended appointments within the integrated health service or spend a few hours working on a craft project whilst they are waiting to be taken home by the Aboriginal transport service," the planning application says.

"As a community of Aboriginals, the priority for this community is to be connected to their environment and to be as environmentally sustainable as is possible within this urban situation."

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